All posts tagged Taxi Driver

Pioneering Hollywood makeup artist Dick Smith, an Oscar winner who made Marlon Brando look like an aging Mafia don and turned a fresh-faced Linda Blair into a scarred demon child, has died at age 92. His friend and protege Rick Baker (“An American Werewolf in London”) wrote on Twitter: “The master is gone. My friend and mentor Dick Smith is no longer with us. The world will not be the same.” Smith will be remembered for ushering his craft into a new realm of realism just as the so-called New Hollywood directors were doing the same with big-budget studio productions. Here’s a look at five of Smith’s most memorable makeup jobs: Read More »

After Cinemacon and San Francisco’s Wondercon, film fans and fanboys were treated to days and days of news about their favorite coming films. In the meantime, studios and distributors have assembled a solid collection of new releases on DVD and Blu-ray for those collectors, both as a supplement to their theatrical moviegoing experiences, and as a substitute. We’ve highlighted just a few of the ones that are a great value. Read More »

With the onslaught of e-readers, physical books are on the slow boat to extinction. On the flip side, they are also becoming incredibly collectible works of art (listen up, Art Basel). The point was illustrated last week at a book launch for “Taxi Driver: Photographs by Steve Schapiro” at Taschen Beverly Hills. While the crowd was small, attendees were serious film connoisseurs; guests included director Michael Mann and photographer Howard Bingham.

Schapiro, whose iconic photographs have graced the pages of Life Magazine, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone, was on hand at the party to sign copies of his new book. The photographer — who also worked as a behind-the-scenes photographer on over 200 films — was on the set of “Taxi Driver” for about 10 weeks. He had free reign to shoot whatever he wanted, in that wonderful era before the shackling constraints of the publicity machine cuffed creativity and editorially stifled what would and would not see the light of day.

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.